Automatic weigher.



No. 863,979 PATBNTED AUG. 20, 1907. C. L. GARDNER.

AUTOMATIC WBIGHER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 23, 1907.

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CHARLES L. GARDNER, OF PEORIA, ILLINOIS.

AUTOMATIC WEIGI-IER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 20, 1907.

Application filed March 28, 1907. Serial No- 364,145.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES L. GARDNER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Peoria, in the county of Peoria and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Weighers; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the illvention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the This invention has reference more particularly to that class of grain weighing machines, wherein the grain as it is delivered from the spout of an elevator passes into a wcigher bucket which is counterpoised on a scale beam beneath said spout, said weigher bucket and spout being provided with gates which are alternately opened and closed as the predetermined amount of grain is delivered to and discharged from the weigher bucket.

The object of my invention is to provide improved mechanism for operating the gates of the spout and weigher bucket, whereby the spout-gate is closed instantly when the weigher bucket descends under the predetermined weight of the grain therein.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate my invention, and in which similar reference characters indicate similar parts in the several views, Figure l is a side elevation of the upper portion of an elevator provided with my weighing device mounted thereon; Fig. 2 a view of the gate operating mechanism looking upwardly irom the line 2-2 of Fig. l; and Fig. 3 is an inside view of the mechanism for operating the spout valve taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2 looking as indicated by the arrow.

The elevator is of the usual construction and comprises the tubular members II which are connected at their upper ends to the elevator head 12 as is well understood in the art. Through the head 12 extends the shaft 13 around which passes a chain, carrying the usual elevator buckets or flights (not shown) and on the outer end of said shaft is fixed a sprocket wheel 15 by which motion is communicated through the sprocket chain 14 to the mechanism by which the valve 16, which controls the outlet from the elevator discharge spout l7, and the gate 18 of the weigher bucket 19 are controlled.

As shown, the bucket 19 is furnished at its top with the usual bails 20 one at each side thereof, each of which is provided with a notch 21 which is engaged by a knife edge 22 projecting laterally from the outer end of the arms of the yoke shaped scale beam frame 23. The arms of this said scale beam frame are pivotally supported a short ditsancc from the bearing 22 on the knife edge bearings 24 which project laterally from the lower end of the spout l7, and said scale beam frame .43 is provided at the opposite side of the elevator from the valve operating mechanism hereinafter described with a vertical arm 25 which has the scale beam 26 secured to the upper end thereof and provided with the adjustable weight (shown by dotted lines at 27) all of which is old in the art.

Projecting laterally from the elevator intermediate of the tubes ll is a shaft 28 which is loosely mounted in any suitable manner on the collar 29 which may be clamped to the tube 11. This shaft 28 has the crank 30 fixed on the outer end thereof which is connected by means of the rod 31 with the gate 18 of the weigher bucket so that in the revolution of the said shaft the crank 30 through the rod 31 causes the gate 18 to open and close. At the inner side of the crank and adjacent thereto is a sprocket wheel 32 which is loosely mounted on the shaft 28 and is con stantly driven by the chain 14 while the elevator is in operation. This sprocket 32 is provided on its inner face with the ratchet wheel 83, and a plate 34 is fixed on the shaft 28 adjacent the ratchet wheel 33. This plate has the pawl 35 pivoted thereto as at 36 on the side next the sprocket wheel and is en gaged by the spring 37 on the plate 34 which tends to force the pawl into engagement with the ratchet teeth The opposite end of the pawl 35 extends some distance beyond the plate 34 and is adapted to normally engage the trip or rocker lever 38 and be thereby held out of engagement with the ratchet teeth against the stop 39 on the plate 34 in the path of movement of the said pawl. The rocker lever 38 is pivoted as at 40 to the elevator tube and has an arm 41 pivoted to the bucket so as to be moved thereby in the descent of the bucket, and an arm 42 which is normally in the path of the pawl 35 and is furnished with a friction roller 48 whereby the movement of said rocker arm out of engagement with the pawl 35 is facilitated.

The plate 34 has an arm 44 which extends forwardly and upwardly and is provided with an inwardly projecting stud 45 at its outer end. The rod 46 is pivoted to the spout-gate as at 47 and is connected by the spring 48 to some stationary part as for instance the spout of the elevator so as to draw said rod downwardly and forwardly to close the spout-gate. This rod is bent as shown to avoid the bucket 19 and scale beam frame 23, and has the recesss 50 in the lower end thereof which when the spout-gate is open and the plate 34 held from movement by the engagement of-the pawl 35 with the trip 31, engages the stud 45 of the plate 34 beyond the dead center line so as to exert a rotative tendency on said plate 34, and said rod is provided with the rider 49 which extends from the recess 50 therein across the shaft 28 above the same and is provided with the bearing face 51 which is adapted to be engaged by the stud 45 as it moves to its position in the notch 50.

Assuming the parts to be in the positions shown in the drawing, grain is being delivered from the spent of the elevator to the weigher bucket. When the predetermined amount of grain has been delivered into the weigher bucket the bucket descends under the weight thereof carrying arm 42 of the rocker arm 38 out from engagement with the pawl 35. The release of the pawl 35 permits movement of the plate 34 which is forced to rotate by the pressure of the rod 46 on the stud 45 thereof, until the rider 49 comes in contact with the collar 34 on the shaft 28 in which position the spout-gate will have completely closed. During the movement of the plate 34 the pawl 35 is forced into engagement by the spring 37 with the ratchet wheel 39, the teeth of which are inclined as shown to permit the said pawl to move ahead of the teeth as the plate is rotated by the closing of the spout-gatev The engagement of the pawl 35 with the ratchet wheel causes the plate 34 and the shaft 28 upon which it is carried to be moved with the sprocket wheel 32 thereby operating the crank 30 to open and close the gate 18 of the bucket 19. As the shaft 28 nears the completion of a revolution, the stud 45 on the arm 44 of the plate 34 engages the under face of the rider 49 of the rod 46 and by reason of the spring 48 merely raises the lower end of said rod and permits the stud 45 to move thereunder to the notch 50. When the stud 45 comes into engagement with the notch 50, at which time the bucket valve 18 is almost completely closed, the rod 46 is moved forwardly and upwardly and opens the spout-gate 16 and as the stud '45 moves past the dead center line, the end of the pawl 35 engages the roller on the arm 42 of the rocker lever, is forced from engagement with the ratchet wheel 33 and holds the plate 34 and shaft 28 against further movement until the arm 42 is again rocked by the descent of the weigher bucket.

The engagement of the stud 45 with the under face 51 of the rider is effected as the bucket gate 18 is in the act of closing, and the friction of said stud against the rider prevents the pawl 35 from moving ahead of the ratchet which it might do as the weight of the bucket gate 18 in its movement to the closed position tends to swing the crank 30 and rotate the shaft 28.

What I claim is: v

1. In an automatic weigher, the combination with a weigher bucket, a delivery-spout and a valve for the delivery-spout. of mechanism for operating said valve comprising a rotary part, a rod pivoted at one end to the spoutgate and provided with a bearing recess in the other end for engagement with the rotary part, said rod being arranged to normally engage the rotary part beyond the dead center line to exert a rotative pressure on said part and to hold the spout-gate open in such position, a trip shift-able with the \veigher bucket i'or normally hold ing the said rotary part from movement when the weigher bucket is in the raised position, and means set in opera tion by the movement of the said trip from the normal position for actuating said rotary part to permit the spout-gate to close and to open said spout-gate.

2. In an automatic weigher, the combination with a weigher bucket, a deliveryspout and a valve for the delivery-spout, of mechanism for operating said valve comprising a rotary part provided with an eccentrieally positioned bearing thereon, a rod connected with the spout-gate and provided with a bearing recess in the end thereof for engagement with the eccentrically disposed bearing on the rotary part, a rider on said rod extending from the said recess for directing the bearing on the rotary part to the said recess, the said rod being. arranged to normally engage the rotary part beyond the dead center line to exert a rotative pressure on said l rotary part and hold the spout-gate open, a trip shiftable with the weigher bucket for normally holding the said rotary part from movement when the weigher bucket is in the raised position, and means set in operation by the movement of the said trip from the normal position for actuating said rotary part to permit the spout-gate to close and to open said spout-gate.

In an automatic weigher, the combination with a weigher bucket, a delivery-spout and a valve for the deliveryspout, of mechanism for operating said valve comprising a rotary part provided with a bearing eccentrically positioned thereon, a rod connected with the spout-gate and provided with a bearing recess therein for engaging the said bearing on the rotary part, a rider on said rod extending from said recess across the axis of the rotary part for directing the bearing on said rotary part to the recess in the rod, said rider being arranged to engage the axis of the rotary part when the recess in the said rod is disengaged from hearing on the rotary part, a trip shiftable with the weigher bucket for holding the rotary part from movement and clutch mechanism set in operation when the trip releases the rotary part for moving the parts to the initial position.

4. In an automatic weigher, the combination with an elevator delivery spout, a weigher bucket and a valve for the delivery spout, of mechanism for operating said valve comprising a constantly driven clutch member, a rotary part intermediate of the constantly driven clutch member and the elevator provided with a bearing eccentrically disposed thereon, a rod connected with the spout-gate and provided with a recess for engaging the said bearing of the rotary part. a rider on said rod extending from the recess therein above the axis of the rotary part for directing the bearing thereon into the recess of the rod, a spring connected with the said rod for moving the said rod to close the spoutgate. a clutch pawl on the said rotary part adapted to engage the constantly driven clutch member. and a trip shiftablc with the weigher bucket adapted, when the weigher bucket is in the raised position, to hold the pawl from engagement with the constantly driven clutch member.

In an automatic weigher, the combination with an elevator delivery spout provided with a valve. and a weigher bucket provided with a movable gate at its bottom, of a constantly driven clutch member at the side of the elevator. means intermediate of the constantly driven clutch member and the elevator for operating the spout valve and means on the opposite side of the con slantly driven clutch member from the valve operating means for operating the bucket gate.

(3. In an automatic wcigher, the combination with an elevator delivery-spout provided with a valve and a weigher bucket provided with a movable gate at its bot tom, of mechanism for operating said valve. and gate comprising a constantly driven clutch member at the side of the elevator, a rotary part intermediate of the constantly driven clutch member and the elevator pro vided with a bearing eccentrically disposed thereon, a rod connected with the spout valve and provided with a recess adapted to engage the bearing on the rotary part, and means for directing the said bearing to said recess. said rod being arranged to normally engage the bearing on the rotary part beyond the dead center line to exert a rotative pressure thereon and to hold the spout-gate open, a crank on the opposite side of the constantly driven clutch member movable with the said rotary part for operating the bucket gate, a clutch member on the rotary part adapted to engage the constantly driven clutch member and a trip shiftable with the weigher bucket for holding the clutch pawl from engagement with the constantly driven clutch member and the rotary part from rotation.

In testimony whereof I have presence of two witnesses.

aflixcd my signature, in

CHARLES L. GARDNER.

Witnesses H. V. GIBSON, E. M. GILES. 

